Author: Hovik Karapetian

Le Figaro, France
Vendredi 24 septembre 2004
CAUCASE Visite d’Etat de Romano Prodi en Azerbaïdjan, en Géorgie et
en Arménie
Caucase : l’Europe tend la main à ses «nouveaux voisins»
Bakou, Tbilissi, Erevan : de notre envoyée spéciale Alexandrine
Bouilhet
Alors que Bruxelles s’agite autour de la candidature de la Turquie,
Romano Prodi vient d’effectuer une visite d’Etat significative pour
ceux qui s’interrogent encore sur les futures frontières de l’Union.
Le président de la Commission européenne s’est rendu ce week-end en
Azerbaïdjan, en Géorgie et en Arménie, trois pays stratégiques,
instables et inquiets, à qui il a tendu une main rassurante au nom de
toute l’Europe. «Vous êtes maintenant nos nouveaux voisins», a répété
Romano Prodi dans les trois capitales. «Nous vous offrons, non pas
l’adhésion à l’Union, mais un partenariat renforcé très ambitieux qui
vous permettra, à terme, de tout partager avec Bruxelles, sauf les
institutions.»
Intégrés aux forceps dans la «politique de voisinage» de la
Commission, en juin, les trois pays du Sud Caucase n’ont pas bien
réalisé ce qu’impliquait, dans le détail, ce partenariat. Mais en
voyant Romano Prodi venir à la fin de son mandat, ils ont compris
l’essentiel : la Turquie sera bel et bien membre, un jour, de l’UE.
Sinon, pourquoi évoquer avec insistance le nouveau «voisinage» entre
Bruxelles et Bakou ? Le message est d’autant plus fort qu’il émane du
président de la Commission, appelée à se prononcer d’ici au 6 octobre
sur l’opportunité d’entamer les négociations d’adhésion avec Ankara.
Les plus inquiets de cette perspective sont évidemment les Arméniens.
«Comment pouvez-vous accepter de faire entrer la Turquie, alors
qu’elle n’a toujours pas reconnu le génocide arménien ?», ont demandé
les étudiants de Erevan au professeur Prodi. «Comment pouvez-vous
tolérer qu’un pays futur membre de l’Union européenne ferme sa
frontière avec l’Arménie ?» Autant de questions embarrassantes pour
Romano Prodi, qui a laissé entendre qu’une résolution de ces
différends était envisageable dans le cadre des négociations avec
Ankara. «Cette fermeture des frontières entre la Turquie et l’Arménie
me préoccupe. Je ferai de mon mieux pour y remédier», a-t-il promis,
dimanche, à Erevan. Le règlement du contentieux turco-arménien
pourrait figurer dans le rapport sur la Turquie, au chapitre des
recommandations de la Commission aux Etats membres.
Plus complexes à résoudre sont les conflits régionaux qui minent les
rapports entre Bakou, Erevan, Tbilissi et Moscou. Autant de sources
d’instabilité qui transforment la région en une poudrière, menaçant
la sécurité de l’approvisionnement en matières premières. La victoire
des Arméniens contre les Azéris dans la guerre du Nagorno-Karabak, en
1994, n’a toujours pas été acceptée par Bakou, qui réclame à
l’Occident une solution pour son million d’habitants déplacés. C’est
la principale revendication des autorités azéries, qui monnayent
chèrement l’accès au pétrole et au gaz de la mer Caspienne. «A part
votre aide pour le règlement du Nagorno-Karabak, nous n’avons pas
vraiment besoin de votre assistance, vous savez… Nous allons sortir
d’un milliard et demi de tonnes de pétrole ici !», a lché le
président Aliev à Romano Prodi. «Avec le pétrole vous pouvez vous
enrichir, c’est vrai, mais aussi mourir !», lui a rétorqué le
président de la Commission. Les experts européens redoutent que les
revenus à venir du pétrole ne soient utilisés par Bakou pour s’armer
et repartir en guerre contre l’Arménie. Un scénario catastrophique
pour la région, alors que se termine la construction d’un oléoduc
reliant Bakou à Ceyhan, au sud de la Turquie, sans passer par la
Russie.
En attendant la manne offerte par ce nouvel oléoduc, qui devrait
fonctionner à partir de 2005, la Russie fournit toujours 55% de
l’énergie de l’Union européenne. Cette donnée de base interdit à
Romano Prodi de critiquer trop ouvertement la politique de Vladimir
Poutine lorsqu’il se rend en Géorgie, où la tension avec Moscou est à
son paroxysme depuis la tragédie de Beslan. «Nous sommes très
inquiets de l’évolution actuelle de la Russie», a-t-il simplement
affirmé, en faisant allusion aux réformes institutionnelles à Moscou.
«Nous sommes conscients des difficultés, c’est comme de cohabiter
avec un éléphant, ou plutôt avec un ours…», a-t-il calmement
répondu à la présidente du Parlement géorgien, qui redoute les
frappes préventives annoncées par Poutine. Si la Russie met ses
menaces à exécution, que pourra faire l’Union européenne ? En quoi la
politique de voisinage protégera-t-elle la Géorgie ? «L’Europe n’a
pas d’armée», déplore un étudiant de Tbilissi. «Il n’y a que l’Otan
qui puisse nous aider !», lance-t-il à Prodi. «Je trouve qu’à votre
ge, vous êtes un peu trop obsédé par les armes», rétorque le
dirigeant européen en vieux sage. «L’Europe n’a pas d’armée, c’est
vrai. Cela prendra beaucoup de temps. Vous la verrez peut-être un
jour, moi pas», concède-t-il. «Mais, en attendant, l’Europe vous
offre autre chose que vous ne devez pas sous-estimer : «la soft
security»», explique-t-il aux jeunes Géorgiens. «Si vous êtes
intégrés à l’Europe par un partenariat fort, plus personne n’osa vous
menacer.» Leitmotiv de Romano Prodi, de Tbilissi à Bakou, le concept
de «soft security» n’est pas facile à vendre dans le Caucase, où
Moscou dispose de bases militaires.
Les conflits latents entretenus par les Russes en Ossétie du Sud, ou
en Abkhazie, peuvent exploser à la moindre étincelle. «Nous ne sommes
ni en paix ni en guerre, mais c’est une région explosive», a expliqué
le patriarche de Géorgie à Romano Prodi, silencieux. «Ce qui se passe
dans le Sud Caucase a des répercussions directe au Nord Caucase. Si
vous nous aidez à mettre fin au conflit en Abkhazie, le problème
tchétchène sera réglé.»
En quittant cette région en proie à des haines que l’Europe ne peut
pas régler sans prendre Moscou de front, Romano Prodi a senti toute
la distance qui séparait Bruxelles de Tbilissi. Il a aussi compris
l’urgence qu’il y avait à inclure le Sud Caucase dans la sphère
d’influence de l’Europe.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Kurdish Media
Sept 23 2004
Remembering Musa Anter

23/09/2004 KurdishMedia.com
London (KurdishMedia.com) 23 September 2004: Musa Anter, known to
millions of Kurds as Apê (Uncle) Musa, was born around 1918 in the
village of Zivinge in Nusaybin.
He never knew his true year of birth. He was first registered as born
in 1924, and his year of birth was later legally changed to 1920.
However, told by his mother that he was born right after the Armenian
Genocide, he believed he was born in either 1917 or 1918.
His family, like many in this area, had relatives in the Turkish and
Syrian-occupied segments of Kurdistan.
In his simple village, where the only drinking water available was
that collected from the rain, Apê Musa grew up hearing oral accounts
of various events in Kurdish history, tales of persecution and
bravery.
Apê Musa became an activist writer, fighting for justice for his
people peacefully using the written word. He was one of the most
prominent journalists of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Gundem and
Chairman of the Mesopotamian Cultural Center in Istanbul, and was
widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable men in the nation on
Kurdish culture.
On September 20, 1992, Apê Musa was the fifth member of the Ozgur
Gundem staff to be assassinated, murdered by a Turkish death squad in
the city of Amed (Diyarbakir).
Lured from a hotel room by a telephone call and then shot four times
by an assassin pretending to be a taxi cab driver, Apê Musa became a
martyr in the embattled capital of Kurdistan, where he was visiting
to sign books for a cultural festival.
Twelve years later, as Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan continue to
fight for the simple right to live as Kurds, Apê Musa’s memory lives
on.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
Sept 3 2004
OSLO TO HOST NEXT SESSION OF PACE BUREAU ON SEPTEMBER 6
[September 03, 2004, 17:21:53]
Next session of the Bureau of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe will be held in Oslo, September 6.
As chairman of the permanent commission on the international
relations and inter-parliamentary links of Milli Majlis informed
correspondent of AzerTAj, the head of the Azerbaijan delegation at
PACE Samad Seyidov, at this session which will take place under the
presidency of the new secretary general of Bureau Terry Davis, the
condition of performance of the obligations connected to Azerbaijan,
and also a question on the persons named political prisoners will be
discussed. Also session of the standing committee will be held on
September 6. The questions approved in the sessions of the Bureau and
Committee, will be included in the agenda of session of PACE planned
on the end of September.
The Azerbaijan delegation will take part in both sessions.
Samad Seyidov has told also that there is a question in the agenda on
appointment instead of Terry Davis a new rapporteur of PACE on
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, this question will be solved
hardly later, as the new rapporteur can be authorized only after the
coordination with the sides of the conflict.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ASBAREZ ONLINE
TOP STORIES
08/17/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) New Armenian Film Foundation Documentary in the Making 2) Azeri FM Speaks about Planned Moscow Trip 3) Survey Shows 30 Percent Jobless Rate in Yerevan 4) Georgia Insists on Launching Talks over South Ossetia Status 1) New Armenian Film Foundation Documentary in the Making THOUSAND OAKS--Caravans Along the Euphrates; Anatomy of the Secret Genocide is expected to be the "crown jewel" of the Armenian Film Foundation's "The Witnesses" trilogy project. It will be the culmination of a massive continuation of the 25th Anniversary of the foundation. Lead creative production staff met with award-winning director/producer Dr. J. Michael Hagopian in Thousand Oaks this week to critique the film-in-process. Those present included co-producer Glenn Farr--an Oscar-winning master feature film editor and director; and Carla Garapedian, narrator and co-writer of the first two Witnesses films, who is a former BBC anchor about to enter production on her own film later this fall. Associate producer and assistant editor Barbara Gilmore, whose experience includes working as project director and associate producer on five Armenian genocide documentaries, also was at hand. After the initial screening, Garapedian said, "Caravans Along the Euphrates, more than ever, has particularly powerful eyewitness testimony." Farr stated, "even the brightest, most rational mind cannot cast aside the history that is portrayed in this last film of The Witnesses trilogy." Several other screenings will be held to solicit input from scholars, survivors and people from other walks of life before the final production phase. Incorporated will be a penetrating storyline of survivor accounts selected from a collection of over 400 interviews. The interviews were professionally photographed by Dr. Hagopian over a span of 40 years in Europe, Australia and North America. Himself a survivor of the genocide, Dr. Hagopian has devoted much of his life to documenting the legacy of other survivors and those whose lives were brutally extinguished. His works have to date amassed over 160 prestigious film awards and prizes from around the world. The Armenian Film Foundation now endeavors to raise funds in the Armenian community to help finance the remaining work on Caravans Along the Euphrates: Anatomy of the Secret genocide. Completion of the film is targeted for 2005--the 90th commemorative year of the genocide. Support for the first two films of The Witnesses project, totaling $800,000, was garnered primarily from the California State Legislature, as well as from foundations and some individual sources through the efforts of ardent supporter and executive producer Walter Karabian, Esq. Those who make generous donations to help finance this project will receive recognition in the credits at the end of Caravans Along the Euphrates. For further information on this and other Armenian Film Foundation films and projects, visit the foundation's website at , or call its Southern California office at (805) 495-0717. 2) Azeri FM Speaks about Planned Moscow Trip BAKU (ZERKALO)--Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, who arrived in Moscow on August 17 for a two-day official visit, revealed details about his trip to "Zerkalo" newspaper shortly before his departure. Noting that the meeting will mark the first with his Russian counterpart, Mammadyarov stated that Russia's involvement in the Mountainous Karabagh settlement and within the OSCE Minsk Group will be on the top of his meeting agenda. Mammadyarov said that other issues he will raise during the visit deal primarily with the economic relations between the two countries. According to the Azeri minister, Russia, along with the other Minsk Group chairmen, plays a crucial role in the settlement of the Karabagh conflict and that regional stability depends on the conflict's resolution. "The emergence of political stability and economic development within the Caucuses is beneficial to all parties interested in the region," said Mammadyarov, adding that Russia has "deep" relations with Armenia, although it has economic interests in Azerbaijan. "Moving onto Russia's stance on the Karabagh issue, it must be noted that there are many in Russia who believe that if their country displays greater interest in the conflict's resolution, stability within the Caucuses will be achieved much sooner," Mammadyarov stated. Commenting on the belief held by some in military circles who identify military action as the only viable solution to the problem, Mammadyarov said: "I am this country's Foreign Minister, not the Defense Minister, and I will struggle to the end in order to find a peaceful solution to the conflict." 3) Survey Shows 30 Percent Jobless Rate in Yerevan YEREVAN (RFE-RL/CPOD)--A survey of the labor market funded by the European Union suggests a staggering 30 percent rate of unemployment in Yerevan which is three times higher than the figure reported by the Armenian government. The EU-sponsored Armenian-European Policy and Legal Advice Center (AEPLAC) has randomly interviewed one thousand people in all districts of the capital on their employment status, professional background and incomes. According to its researchers, almost one in three respondents said they can not find a job and half of them have university degrees. The findings of the poll, made available to RFE/RL on Tuesday, differ markedly from the official nationwide unemployment rate of roughly 10 percent registered by the National Statistical Service. But they are largely in tune with the estimates of independent economists and analysts. They have long argued most of the Armenians out of work do not register with the government's social services due to meager unemployment benefits and a lack of faith in their chances of finding a job with state support. The AEPLAC survey confirms this belief, with as many as 75 percent of those polled saying that they have never applied to employment centers run by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Most of those who have done so do not expect positive results, the poll shows. The poll also found that unemployment is particularly high among engineers, a telling indicator of Armenia's post-Soviet industrial decline. "The lack of industrial development means that many engineers can not find work," said Hayk Barseghian, a leading AEPLAC analyst. The AEPLAC, which was set up in 1999 to help Armenia forge closer ties with the EU, also sought to ascertain incomes of Yerevan-based workers. Based on the respondents' answers, its survey estimates the average wage in the city at 55,000 drams ($106). The nationwide average measured by official statistics is 40,000 drams. The poll also found substantial gender inequality in the amount of pay, with men earning 70,000 drams and women 40,000 drams on average. Finance and banking sector employees were found to be the highest paid workforce with 130,000 drams a month, followed by lawyers who make 91,000 drams. Public sector doctors and school teachers are in the lowest pay category with salaries averaging 29,000 drams, according to the research. In related news, a recent survey conducted by the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) showed that 23.8 percent of the 2,021 Armenian adults polled believed that unemployment is the main social danger in the country, while 22.8 said emigration was the greatest threat. 4) Georgia Insists on Launching Talks over South Ossetia Status TBILISI (Civil Georgia/AFP)--Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who met with the members of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC), welcomed the ceasefire agreement reached with the South Ossetian side on August 17. He added, however, that no significant breakthrough is anticipated without launching talks over the political status of the breakaway region. "Establishment of a long-lasting stability and peace in the region will be impossible without resolving the problem of South Ossetia's status. We reiterate our readiness to launch talks over the status," Zurab Zhvania said at a news briefing after the talks with the JCC members. The conflicting sides agreed during the talks in Tbilisi on a ceasefire, withdrawal of extra troops from the conflict zone, and securing free movement of people in the region. Zhvania also said that the South Ossetian side expressed readiness to release those three Georgian soldiers, who were detained by the South Ossetian militias in early July. The Prime Minister added that the Georgian side offered the South Ossetian and Russian sides to carry out joint operations against those armed groups, which according to the South Ossetia are out of Tskhinvali's control. "The South Ossetian side claims that there is a certain third force in the region--armed groups which do not obey Tskhinvali's orders. Hence, we proposed to carry out a joint operation to wipe-out these groups, if there is any," Zhvania said. Georgian Interior Minister Irakli Okruashvili said on August 16 that Tbilisi is ready to pull out part of its troops from the South Ossetian conflict zone granting that the South Ossetian militias stop attacks on Georgian villages and troops stationed there. "Granting that peace is preserved for three days, the Georgian side will pull out 30% of its troops deployed at the by-pass roads," Okruashvili told Rustavi 2 television on August 16. These roads link the Georgian controlled areas with the Georgian villages North of the capital Tskhinvali. The Interior Minister said that this proposal has already been approved by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Meanwhile, Georgian government troops and forces from South Ossetia clashed overnight, killing a Georgian soldier and wounding three, officials said--as the most recent ceasefire failed to hold in the region. The crisis has prompted President Mikhail Saakashvili to call for international peacekeepers, to provide security for civilians and ensure that conditions for talks on a permanent settlement are met. He is appealing for an international peacekeeping force to be sent to South Ossetia, specifically calling on the US, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to take an active role "in high level negotiations among the parties directly involved." "An international peacekeeping operation that is balanced and takes into consideration Georgia's Euro-Atlantic partners should be mandated in South Ossetia to provide security for the population and ensure the conditions for political negotiations towards a lasting settlement," Saakashvili said in an article in the Wall Street Journal Europe. Saakashvili claims that as a result of recent actions of his government to halt smuggling, "the de facto leadership in this lawless region saw their income threatened and have resorted to violence." He said they seek to provoke a confrontation which they hoped will undermine Georgia's credibility and standing in the international community--a confrontation in which Georgian soldiers have died. The latest clashes have led to a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sergei Lavrov of Russia, as US diplomats met with Russian and Georgian officials in an effort to cool tensions. The Moscow foreign ministry statement did not specify who made the call, but said it focused on South Ossetia. Repeated clashes have undermined the internationally brokered ceasefire signed late last week between Georgia, Russia, and South Ossetia and the OSCE, in an intense drive to defuse the crisis in the region. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets. From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Hindu
August 9, 2004
RUGBY REVIVAL IN THE SOUTH
IT WAS good to see a 15-a-side rugby match in Chennai again after
decades. And it was nice to see a Tamil Nadu team, from the Armed
Police, emerge champions in the qualifiers for the Nationals, beating
the multinational Bangalore Rugby Football Club. With the Sports
Development Authority of Tamil Nadu encouraging the efforts of the
Tamil Nadu Rugby Football Union, the game is fast spreading in the
city and promises to spread in the mofussil too with the SDAT’s
backing.
Responsible for bringing rugby back to Madras – and helping it
establish itself in Bangalore, Pondicherry and, soon, Hyderabad – is
Patrick Davenport, a fast-talking, hard-selling American businessman
who has settled in Madras. Yes, American, and one who says it is a
game quite popular now in American universities that produce a
national team that must rate amongst the top 15 in the world.
Davenport himself played for the University of Detroit and has been
passionate about the game since. Today, he’s got about half a dozen
teams regularly playing rugby in Madras and has got about 25 schools,
including 15 corporation schools, to take to the game. Teaming with
Davenport in spreading the game in the city is the president of the
TRFU, Mohan Krishna, and technical director Emil Vartazarian, a
Calcutta Armenian who is probably the best player in the country.
The pity of this passion is that the institution that gave South
India rugby is showing no interest at all in the game. The Madras
Gymkhana Rugby Football Challenge Cup was instituted in 1900 and was
once competed for every October during what was known as the Madras
Rugger Week, teams coming down from the Anamalais, the High Range,
Nilgiris, Wynaad and Bangalore to play and frolic. The Gymkhana also
used to host the All India every few years till, if I remember right,
1954, fielding a team every year in the tournament. By the 1960s,
however, the Gymkhana Club began to take a new view of itself, and
rugby vanished from the Madras scene, leaving it to Calcutta and
Bombay to manfully struggle to keep the game alive in the country.
That struggle has begun to pay off – and the game is enjoying an
all-India revival with a dozen States taking to it.
Remembering Arbuthnot
Though the Gymkhana Club was responsible for keeping Rugby alive in
South India for over 50 years, the beginnings of the game were less
formal. Those beginnings were on The Island where Alexander
Arbuthnot, just out of Rugby School and Haileybury, introduced soon
after his arrival in 1842 the game his old school had invented. He
had introduced the game in Haileybury too the institution which
turned out cricket-playing Civilians for Indian service. Alick’
Arbuthnot was another one of those cricketers and made an even bigger
contribution to South India when he founded the Madras Cricket Club
in 1846. But Alick Arbuthnot’s greatest contribution to the
Presidency was an institution which serendipitously finds mention
elsewhere in today’s column; as Director of Public Instruction he
played a major role in establishing the University of Madras.
In 1858, Arbuthnot delivered the first Convocation Address of the
University and Thamotharampillai and Visuvanathapillai would have
received their sheepskins from him. In 1871, he became the
Vice-Chancellor of the University whose details he had helped to work
out. In 1878, he became the Vice Chancellor of the University of
Calcutta, after, in the years in-between, having served as the Chief
Secretary and, for a few months, Acting Governor of Madras. It’s
quite a contribution he made to Madras between 1842 and 1872, but
none of it nor the man is remembered.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
“Christian Moslem collaboration must be developed on common values”
His Holiness Catholicos Aram I
“Christian-Moslem dialogue is integral to the history of the Middle East”
His Highness Prince Hassan Bin Talal
ANTELIAS, (25 JULY 2004) – The meeting that took place between His Holiness
Aram I Catholicos of all Armenians of Cilicia and His Highness Prince Hassan
Bin Talal of Jordan today in Antelias was a significant event in the context
of the Christian-Moslem dialogue. In fact both leaders are engaged in the
Christian-Moslem dialogue regionally and internationally. They are both
committed to promotion of human rights, common human values and peace with
justice.
In a private meeting that took place in the office of His Holiness,
Catholicos Aram I and Prince Hassan of Jordan addressed a number of issues
related to the Middle East and particularly to Christian-Moslem dialogue.
They both stressed the crucial importance of deepening the interfaith
dialogue as an important instrument for the restoration of peace, justice
and reconciliation in the world today.
The private meeting was followed by an official reception in the main hall
of the Catholicosate. Present were the Armenian minister in the government,
the Central Committee of the Catholicosate the Primate of Lebanon, the
representatives of the Antelias clergy and the community leaders.
In his welcoming speech His Holiness Aram I greeted His Highness “as a great
Arab leader committed to justice, peace and reconciliation; as a man of
dialogue engaged in developing meaningful collaboration between Islam and
Christianity; as a friend and a partner walking and working together for the
promotion of common values and vision”. He then referred to the manifold
mission of the Catholicosate in the Armenian Diaspora emphasizing
particularly its contribution to Christian-Moslem dialogue. Speaking about
the challenges and concerns facing humanity, His Holiness Aram I pointed out
the pivotal role of religion. In this context he warned the misuse and the
abuse of religion which could become a source of evil. Concluding his
remarks, Catholicos Aram I assured the Prince that the Armenian Church and
people with their long history of suffering and genocide, as well as with
their continues struggle for justice and freedom remain partners with all
those who are committed for the building of a world sustained by tolerance,
mutual trust, human rights, justice and reconciliation.
In his respond to the greeting of His Holiness, His Highness expressed his
joy to be in the center of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia. He
addressed His Holiness as a friend and a partner committed for the sacred
cause of justice, human dignity, inter-religious tolerance and peace. His
Highness then described the context of the present world in its major
problems, needs and challenges. He considered the role of religions very
important in developing firm ethical bases to govern the life of societies.
At the end of greetings His Holiness and His Highness responded to some
questions raised by those present.
##
View printable pictures here:
tp:// top

********
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Providence Journal , RI
July 25 2004
A tale of love and war

Debut novel set in Paris in 1919 has lots of Rhode Island history as
background

BY ANN HOOD
Special to the Journal

THE LAST DAY OF THE WAR, by Judith Claire Mitchell. Pantheon. 366
pages. $24.95.
Judith Claire Mitchell’s debut novel, The Last Day of the War, is a
sprawling, exciting love story set against the backdrop of Paris in
1919 and with interesting Rhode Island connections.
Eighteen-year-old Yael Weiss inadvertently takes a package from a
library shelf; its owner, a soldier named Dub Hagopian, must
negotiate with her for its return. In their brief meeting, he reveals
that he is a member of Erinyes, an organization with a secret plan to
revenge the Armenian genocide, and that the package contains guns.
Although he describes himself as “just a regular guy from Providence,
Rhode Island,” there’s nothing ordinary about Dub. Not only is he off
to Paris on a secret mission, but his hair, “in the front, is truly
half black and half gray.To the right of his part, his hair is black
as coal. To the left, a shock of pure shining silver.”
Yael is not ordinary, either. On the basis of these few moments, she
tampers with her birth certificate to make herself seven years older,
signs up to work in the YMCA soldiers’ canteens in Paris, changes her
name to Yale White, and crosses the Atlantic in search of Dub.
Improbably, they meet again almost immediately, fall in love and
embark on the secret mission together. Dub has a fiancée back home,
whom he does not love and who happens to be the sister of his best
friend and partner in crime.
Mitchell, a former longtime Rhode Island resident, uses her extensive
knowledge of our state’s history to build the inner and outer worlds
of Yale and Dub. Did you know that Providence was built on seven
hills, “like Rome”? Or that the Armenian community settled on Smith
Hill? “Why not Fruit Hill, with its flowering orchards and arbors?
Why not College Hill, with its ivy league university, or Mount
Pleasant, with its farms and fat grazing sheep?” A picture of a very
different Providence emerges through the eyes of Dub and his Armenian
community.
Although some of these plot twists might feel familiar, Mitchell
weaves a tale filled with historical detail and facts about the 1915
Armenian massacres, and about life in 1919, complete with Y girls and
fashions like split skirts.
This combination of love and war, history and revenge, makes for a
thrilling read, one that lingers long after you finish it.
Ann Hood is a novelist and short-story writer in Providence. Her
latest collection, An Ornithologist’s Guide to Life, was reviewed
here last week.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Background Briefing by a Senior Administration Official On President
Bush’s Trip to Turkey
Conrad Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
WASHINGTON, June 27 /PRNewswire/ —
7:10 P.M. (Local)
MR. McCLELLAN: We’ve got a background briefing here with a senior
administration official, who will walk you through some of the
meetings earlier today, as well as give you a look ahead to the NATO
summit. And with that, I will turn it over to our senior
administration official.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good evening, everyone. I’ll walk
through the meetings in Ankara today, and a couple in Istanbul this
afternoon. And then I’ll give you a preview of the events tomorrow. I
may be joined by another colleague a little bit later who can give
more detail about the NATO meetings.
The President today saw Prime Minister Erdogan and President Sezer of
Turkey. These were two separate meetings, followed by a lunch in
which President Sezer and Prime Minister Erdogan were both present.
He then — we then arrived in Istanbul, where the President met with a
group of Turkish religious leaders, both the Turkish government head
of the — basically, the minister for religious affairs, an Istanbul
Islamic cleric, the senior rabbi of Istanbul, the head of the Syriac,
head of the Armenian churches, and of course, most — of great
importance, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is first among
equals among Eastern Orthodox churches in the world.
That was followed by a meeting between the President and NATO
Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer, which is the first of the
President’s NATO events.
I’d like to characterize a little bit the discussions with the Turks
today. These were very good meetings. They were held against the
background of the very intense period we went through with Turkey,
starting in late 1992, and of course, you all remember the issue of
Iraq which came up. There was a Turkish vote not to allow U.S. troops
to pass through Turkey. Later there was a vote in the Parliament, in
the Turkish Parliament, to offer Turkish troops for Iraq, but by that
time the Iraqi Governing Council was not interested in having Turkish
troops there. So there were, in the end, no Turkish troops. There
was a lot of back-and-forth between the United States and Turkey in
the past.
These meetings today made clear that whatever the differences U.S.
and Turkish governments had over Iraq, from this point forward — and
both the Turkish President and the Turkish Prime Minister in their
meetings made this clear — from this moment forward, Turkey sees its
interests and the American interests in Iraq as parallel and
consistent. That is, the Turks made clear that they want a stable,
successful Iraq, at peace with itself, at peace with its neighbors, an
Iraq that is democratizing, an Iraq that respects minorities. Turks
made this clear.
The Turks — of course, the Turks and the Turkish leaders and the
President discussed issues such as the territorial integrity of Iraq.
And the President made clear that this is something of critical
importance to the United States.
They discussed Kurdish issues. The Turks made clear their concern
about PKK activities — PKK is, as you know, a terrorist organization
which has operated against Turks for a number of years. There are PKK
— PKK does operate out of Iraq, and we made it clear that we consider
the PKK a terrorist organization, and want to work with Turkey to
eliminate the threat of terrorism and the danger to Turkey that it
represents.
The leaders also talked about Cyprus, and the President expressed his
thanks to Turkey for its extraordinarily constructive and creative
attitude, which almost — which brought us closer to a Cyprus
settlement than we have been in the 40 — in the 30 years since the
division of the island in 1974. This was a very near thing. The
U.N. came up with a very good plan that Kofi Annan managed. Turkey
and the Turkish Cypriot community supported it. The Greek Cypriot
community did not. But Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots did a lot to
advance this process. The President expressed both his determination
to work with all the parties to try to achieve a settlement on the
basis of the Annan plan, but also expressed his real gratitude to
Turkey for what it had done and made clear that, in accordance with
the U.N. recommendations, that Turkish Cypriots no longer be subject
to isolation, that they have really done what the world asked — what
the international community, what the world asked of them, and this
needs to be recognized.
The leaders also talked about the broader Middle East, and of course
Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan had gone to Sea Island, to weigh in in
support of this initiative. Turkey is a secular democracy with a
majority Muslim population, and a history of tolerance. It is a
successful democracy. It is rapidly reforming itself to meet the
standards for EU accession. And in this way, although it is not,
strictly speaking, a model for countries of the broader Middle East,
it is certainly an example of what secular democracy — how secular
democracy can flourish. And it is an example of the compatibility of
Islam and democracy, which was the title of a conference a few months
ago in this city. So they discussed their common vision of the need
to support reform and reformers in the broader Middle East.
I’ll say a word about the President’s meeting with religious leaders,
but I must start with a confession. Due to motorcade issues, some of
us were enjoying a wonderful tour of historic Istanbul rather than
actually making it to the meeting. So I can tell you about the
thinking leading up to the meeting, but other than a brief
characterization that it went, “very well,” I can’t say much more
about it.
The purpose of the meeting was to point out that in a society — in a
secular but majority Muslim society like Turkey’s, it’s important to
recognize the contribution of minority groups and minority religions,
and to recognize that these people are a constituent part of — very
much of this city for centuries, and a couple of millennia, in some
cases, and that this is a part of the tolerant future which we all
seek.
It was a very — I asked how the meeting went; I was told very well. I
don’t want to describe a meeting that I was not — that I neither
attended, nor have great details about. The President’s meeting with
Yaap de Hoop Scheffer was a terrific meeting, and I should say,
characterizing events of tomorrow, that we are closing rapidly on a
number of real strong deliverables and achievements for NATO, both
long-range and short-range. And I think that colored the atmosphere of
the meeting.
One more point about Turkey. I should mention that the President, of
course, expressed his sympathies over the fate of the three Turkish
workers that have been kidnapped and threatened with death. The
President made clear that this episode demonstrates the kind of an
enemy we are fighting, a totalitarian enemy which terrorizes and seeks
to export chaos to the world, as well as chaos in Iraq. This is a
terrible situation. There have been others like it. And the
President said that it is important that the international community
unite and defeat these groups and these people.
Q Is that a direct quote from him?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, that is not a direct quote. That
is my miserable paraphrase.
Q That was in the meeting with —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That is the meeting — this came up in
the meeting with Sezer, and I believe — I recall with Erdogan, as
well.
Now, tomorrow, again —
Q — do you have any kind of quote for that — terrible situation
wasn’t a direct —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, that was — I’m not giving you a
direct quote.
Now, tomorrow. You may have the good fortune — we may have the good
fortune to be joined by another senior administration official who is
even more well-versed than I in the details of what will happen
tomorrow, but in his absence, let me go through a few of the items
that you may want to look for.
We are very likely to have an agreement on a training mission in Iraq.
I suspect that there will be three parts to the decision on Iraq, and
three things for you to look for. One is a NATO statement on Iraq, a
separate NATO statement. That statement, if it is agreed — and
again, in NATO, it isn’t done until it’s done, believe me — if that
statement is agreed, it will contain a positive answer to the request
from Prime Minister Allawi for training, and it is possible that it
will contain a second mandate for NATO to study possible further steps
in support of Iraqi security. But again, look for the statement
tomorrow and look for the wording on both of those things.
NATO is also likely to agree about ISAF expansion. It is very likely
we will have the commitments necessary for the first stage of ISAF
expansion beyond Kabul. Look also for an Istanbul declaration which
in lieu of a communique. There will be a communique, but probably
none of you will read it, and in terms of style, at least, I cannot
say that that is a mistake. It’s got lots of content, but it is, like
all communiques, a difficult read. The Istanbul Declaration, however,
is much shorter, and I do commend it to you on grounds of both style
and substance. If it is agreed, it will be a very good summary of how
NATO is changing to meet the challenge of the 21st century, which is a
transformation which ought to be of considerable interest to you,
because it rather definitively answers the question, well, what is
NATO going to do now.
This is a question which has been asked for — many times since the
end of the Cold War, and it is very clear from this Istanbul
Declaration that NATO, in fact, has come to a solid policy consensus
about what its roles and missions are.
Now, I should say that all policy consensus is — develops over time
as it is realized, and so I don’t want to suggest that from now on
there will never be debates at NATO. Of course not. But it is
important to see how far NATO has come in recognizing that its
classing mission of collective defense needs to be realized in new
ways to meet new challenges, that is, the challenges of the
post-September 11th world. There was a tremendous debate after
September 11th as to whether NATO was an appropriate instrument to
take on these challenges. There were some said — some said it was;
some said it wasn’t. NATO has now decided that that, indeed, is going
to be its mission.
That is a tremendous achievement, and an achievement, by the way,
which should be seen in light of the very difficult debates over Iraq
of last year. Many journalists, reflecting a widely held, if not
fully accurate belief, wrote about the end of NATO or fatal divisions
in the transatlantic alliance. So when you read the Istanbul
Declaration, keep this in mind.
Another achievement to look for is NATO’s contribution to the broader
Middle East initiative. You may recall that this initiative has
generated a lot of ink, and I will indulge a pet peeve of mine — most
of that ink has been devoted to explaining why it has been watered
down, cut back, vitiated or shrunk. And in fact, it was launched at
Sea Island a few weeks ago in very much its original shape. The EU
signed on to this initiative with a statement about reform in the
broader Middle East a couple of days ago, and now NATO is going to
contribute its part to this overall initiative through an outreach
program to offer cooperation to the countries of the region, very much
inspired in its practical aspects by the Partnership for Peace, very
successfully launched 10 years ago.
Finally, NATO will mark its decision to successfully end its mission
in Bosnia, which has gone on for nine years. It will be handing over
that mission to the EU in what is not the first, but is the first
significant test of the European — the ESDP, the European Security
and Defense Policy. This handover should take place at the end of the
year. NATO will retain a small mission in Bosnia with some
specialized functions, but the bulk of the work will go to the EU.
Finally, day after tomorrow, there will be a NATO-Ukraine summit. The
emphasis there is twofold. One, we think — we, NATO — think Ukraine
is important and a valuable partner, and, two, democracy in Ukraine is
important and Ukraine-NATO relations will depend on the state of
democracy in that country, in particular how the elections unfold.
There will not be a NATO- Russia summit; however there will be a
NATO-Russia ministerial. Foreign Minister Lavrov will be here;
Secretary Powell will represent the United States. There will be a
Euro Atlantic Partnership Council meeting at the summit level, in
which President Bush will, of course, take part, and the Euro Atlantic
Partnership Council brings together NATO’s partners.
Now, I will leave it there, that general overview. And again, if we
are lucky enough to be joined by my more knowledgeable colleague, I’m
sure you’ll get more, and you’ll have a great time comparing the
differences, if any.
Questions, please.
Q What do you mean when you say that they may reach agreement on
possible discussing further steps for security, opening the door for
NATO possibly sending peacekeeping forces in the future?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I don’t want to speculate about
that. If we get there, the language will speak for itself, and
there are a lot of things that NATO may want to do. We have to see
how this develops. NATO — it is — it was regarded as heresy that
NATO would ever do anything as exotic as a mission thousands of
miles away from its — what was regarded as its classic theater of
operations in Central Europe. The fact that NATO is in Afghanistan
and is taking on a major task, which is the training of a national
army of some size, is pretty big stuff.
What you’re referring to is a possible decision for NATO to study even
more things it might do for Iraq as the training mission unfolds. I
don’t want to speculate as to what that may be. But this is pretty
big stuff, especially in light of the debates.
Q What was the time line given, and what’s the understanding among
NATO members about how long the commitment will be to train and equip
Iraq’s security forces?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: First, we just received the request
from the Iraqi government — today is Sunday — it came to NATO, I
believe, on Monday or Tuesday. So it’s less than a week. We have a
lot of work to do to find out what the Iraqi needs are, specifically
what they have in mind, what NATO can offer. This is a big deal. But
I believe that NATO will agree that this is an urgent mission and it’s
got to be carried out fast. What “fast” means I wouldn’t want to say,
because if I said that it meant I knew what precisely would happen and
when, and I don’t because NATO has to work with the Iraqis. A lot of
thinking is being done, but I don’t want to get into the details.
Q Dr. Rice said this morning that NATO has not specific training
mechanism itself, and so the training would actually be done by
individual countries. Can you spell out what is NATO actually doing?
Is it facilitating this? Is it a headquarters for this?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, NATO — Dr. Rice was pointing
out that NATO is an alliance of nations, and that NATO, itself, as an
alliance has very few multinational forces that are truly
multinational. But there is a tremendous difference between NATO
individual nations doing — running individual national programs, and
NATO as an alliance developing a training program as an alliance.
Q What is that difference?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The difference is that would be a
coherent program run by NATO, even though individual countries would
be doing pieces of that. The difference is important, whether it’s 26
programs all running around, or one program that’s being carried out.
And we have to work through the details, but this is a NATO decision
that we’re looking at.
Of course, Dr. Rice was accurate, but I’m giving you the sense of
where we are.
Q — something that needs to be done fast, if we’re talking about NATO
starting from scratch and developing a program, what’s the time line
we’re looking at on that?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, as I said, I country discuss the
time line because I don’t know what it is. But it is certainly not
true the national programs are necessarily faster. In fact, if your
objective is to train the Iraqi army to help provide security for
Iraqi citizens, you do want a coherent training program rather than
lots of training programs. I mean, just logically. So that’s what we
have in mind.
Q How do you plan to deal with the PKK terror, and when, especially
after the June 30th deadline?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I’m sorry, I missed that. Could you
repeat the question?
Q PKK terror — how do you plan to deal with the PKK terror, and when?
And what’s going to happen after the June 30th deadline?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, there are some — the United
States has made clear that the PKK is a terrorist organization and
that KONGRA-GEL, its latest name, is simply part of the same old
terrorist organization. We’re working with the Iraqi government and
we are working with Turkey on a variety of means to end this threat,
this terrorist threat. We take it very seriously. I have to say that
the Turkish leaders were quite firm and quite clear, and the President
appreciated both their candor and their determination to work with us.
But for various reasons, some of them obvious, I don’t want to say
exactly what we will do, and when.
Q On that, is the U.S. passing the ball to Iraqi interim government,
or the Iraqi-Kurdish forces, or does the U.S. remain to be primarily
responsible for the removal of PKK from Iraq?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I would not put it that way. Clearly,
the sovereign Iraqi government that takes power after June 30th is an
important player in all of this. They are the government. They need
to be a part of the solution, working very closely with Turkey,
working very closely with the multinational force inside Iraq. And
that is all to the good. If our common objective is the end of a
terrorist threat against Turkey, and a terrorist threat, therefore,
against — more generally, the Iraqi government is to be a good
partner.
The Iraqi defense and foreign ministers are here, and I suspect that
this will come up in the discussions between Foreign Minister Zebari
and Foreign Minister Gul. That’s speculation, but I suspect that will
be discussed.
Q Dr. Rice was on TV this morning saying that Prime Minister Allawi
wants to bring back some former members of Saddam’s regime to — for
part of the security forces. Does the United States support this
idea?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I will not go into that because I
don’t do Iraq. And especially since my boss has commented, I think it
would be foolish, as well as — foolish on several grounds to explore
that further.
Q Back on the training, is that happening inside Iraq, as well as
outside in neighboring countries?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Fair question. This was one of the
issues discussed at NATO. The Iraqi request was for training inside
Iraq. Since you’ve seen Prime Minister Allawi’s letter, I assume you
know that that was explicitly asked for. And the question — the
thing to look for is whether NATO responds directly to that request.
I’m familiar with the discussions, yes, it takes place inside Iraq.
That was the request, and I believe that NATO will decide to answer
that request.
Q In spite of what the Germans have said, Chancellor Schroeder has
said that he doesn’t believe the German troops should be — German
troops should be inside Iraq training.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, that’s quite true, and the
German position has been clear from the outset. I don’t believe that
the German position is going to change. We have never insisted the
Germans have to go back to Iraq. We respect the German —
Q — as part of this training mission?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There is now — training can take
place inside. The question was, does training take place inside? And
I said, yes. But I did not say the training would take place outside.
All right? Now, wait — I mean, there is some kind of training that
logically does take place outside: training of officer — long-term
officer training takes place outside. The Germans are already doing
police training; that takes place outside. A comprehensive training
program, if one designed it without regard to any national position
and without regard to the last 18 months of debate, would, naturally,
have elements inside, outside, it would have short-term, near-term,
troop training, embedding officers, schooling, all kinds of things.
And there is nothing — if NATO has a coherent training operation,
it’s certainly true that individual countries can contribute as long
as it’s consistent and part of an overall plan. So this is not an
attempt to jam the Germans. We respect their position.
Q Just to be very clear, then. You’re saying that some amount of
training would happen inside Iraq, and some of that would happen
outside?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Oh, sure. That’s right.
Q How would what Petraeus is doing inside Iraq, what you have the
Jordanians doing in Jordan, how would those two operations be part of
a coherent NATO training program? Would you bring those under the
NATO umbrella?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That is actually an excellent
question, and it’s — oh, it is because that’s exactly the kind of
question that NATO is going to have to work out. So, what are the
command and control elements, how do you put these things together,
how do you link it up with the Iraqi chain of command with NATO, with
Petraeus, those are all good questions. I can’t give you a precise
answer, except I will give you a sense that we are well aware of the
need to make sure that this is linked up in some fashion.
I don’t want to suggest how that might happen in great detail. But
that’s a fair question, and I think the result will be integration of
some kind. I don’t want to say how. But we’re all aware of that, and
you’ve hit on one of the things that NATO is going to be working with.
Q As far as you’re concerned, you’re ready to do that, let Petraeus
maybe answer to a larger command?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I don’t want to get into the precise
details except to suggest that we’re all aware of the need to have
this work. I don’t want to get ahead of myself and give you precise
answers before there are precise answers. I’ll give you a sense that
that’s a good question, we’re all aware of it.
Q Can you characterize the response from Erdogan and Sezer on the
Turkish — the kidnapped Turkish workers, to the President’s
sympathies?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I generally don’t like to characterize
the positions of other governments, but the sense I had was
determination on their part, as well as genuine human concern for the
fate of the workers. I think that’s a fair characterization. I don’t
want to go too much further.
Q One more. The Armenian Orthodox Patriarch said he gave the
President a letter. I know that you weren’t in the meeting, you got a
very brief description, but he got — he said he was giving the
President a letter, he said he was denouncing violence in general.
Has the President have a chance to read the letter? Has he received
the letter? What can you tell us about it?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I can’t say. I really can’t say. I
do know that the head of the Armenian church here has had a good
history in the issue of reconciliation. He’s regarded as a very
positive, serious person. That’s a very general statement. So for
what’s that worth, I offer it.
Q — the religious leaders. Why did you miss it? You say there were
motorcade issues? Was it security problems, protestors, anything —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Oh, no. There were no — certainly no
protestors that I saw. It was motorcade — the motorcade was slow,
and by the time I got to the meeting, the question was, do I barge in
in the middle of the meeting, or since the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
was there, do I let him take the notes and give me a readout, and I
decided not to barge in. That’s all there was.
Q The motorcade wasn’t slowed down by security —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, certainly — certainly not. It
ran rather smoothly, but it’s — we were going through an old part of
town. You don’t race through it at 90 miles an hour.
Q Could you please talk about what Prime Minister Allawi means by
technical assistance, and will that be part of the agreement,
something that will be announced in the next couple of days? And
secondly, could you please elaborate what the President meant when he
said that he wants to make sure that NATO is configured militarily to
meet the threats of the 21st century?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The last one I can answer fairly
easily. NATO no longer has to worry about the Soviet army rolling
through the central plains of Europe. Yet NATO national armies are
only in the beginning process of transformation. Some of the NATO new
members have radically transformed their armies, but they haven’t had
the financial resources to do as much as they like. Some of the
pre-1989 NATO members have very good plans, they know what needs to be
done, but they’re not there, either. NATO has to develop forces like
the rapid reaction force, which was agreed to at the Prague summit,
and get these forces ready to do what needs to be done for the
future. That’s what it means.
With respect to technical assistance, look, take a look at the text in
the NATO agreement when it comes out. The Iraqi Foreign Minister and
Defense Minister are here, so you might ask them. Allawi is, clearly,
in my limited experience with him, is clearly capable of saying what
he wants and what he doesn’t want, and I think technical assistance
means a support and support in the context of training. But he also
wants — I think he wants NATO to look at other ways in which it can
be helpful, and that’s what NATO will be doing if we reach agreement.
Q But excuse me, sir, are we talking about helicopters, or —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I can’t get into that because I have
to see. We don’t have — there’s no annex to the letter, a list of
the things that he wants. I think we’re going to be developing it
with the Iraqis, but I can’t — I don’t want to speculate about how
NATO will go about fulfilling its mandate if, indeed, it reaches
agreement tomorrow or the next day.
MR. McCLELLAN: — just a couple more.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay, right. Yes, sir.
Q You had mentioned that the interim Iraqi defense and foreign
ministers are here. Who did they meet with, and how were — how did
those meetings go?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The foreign minister — they were
invited by the Turkish Foreign Minister, I believe. And there was an
informal meeting of the NATO foreign ministers with the Iraqi interim
foreign minister this evening. I don’t have a readout of that
meeting. I also believe that the Iraqi defense minister was going to
meet in an informal setting with the NATO defense ministers, also,
this evening. I don’t have a readout of that, either.
Q Those meetings have not taken place?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: They are taking place now. I don’t
have any readout. If my more knowledgeable senior administration
official colleague does make it here, he may have more information for
you. I’m giving you what I’ve got.
MR. McCLELLAN: It does not look like he’s going to make it here.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, alas, it doesn’t. You’ve had to
make due with me. I am sorry.
Q Afghanistan?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes?
Q So NATO is going to make a commitment on Afghanistan. They made a
commitment previously which they did not deliver 100 percent on.
What’s different about this one?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: NATO does have about 5,800 troops
right now in Kabul as part of ISAF and it is now moving outside of
ISAF. You should ask for details from people who know them more —
better than I do. But by my understanding, ISAF is going out of Kabul
in stages, and I believe that NATO will be in a position — believe —
that NATO will be in a position to announce it has sufficient forces
to launch stage one, which is an expansion to the North, through PRGs,
these provincial reconstruction teams, and that it will start to work
on assembling the forces for stage two expansion.
So how you play — how you interpret this depends on which angle you
look at it from. Would I like there to be more NATO forces and make
this easy? Sure. On the other hand, the fact that NATO is able to do
this at all, given the fact that a few years ago, only obscure
academics even considered the possibility of NATO out of area this
far, means that NATO has come a long way.
You can — you have both. It’s not — the truth isn’t in between, the
truth is both, that NATO needs to do more to have the capabilities to
set these things up more easily, but also, NATO has come a tremendous
way in terms of taking on new responsibilities and carrying out
missions that it didn’t know it would be dealing with a few years ago.
So I consider this — I consider this a major summit. And I will end
with a final thought, that this is the first NATO summit that is
dealing almost exclusively with NATO’s future role dealing with future
21st century challenges. What NATO is discussing, and what most of
our discussion this evening has been about, is about things like
Afghanistan and Iraq and NATO’s transformation.
Now, that means that NATO has already gotten its mind adjusted to its
new challenges. That makes this summit historic because now the
debate about what NATO is for is answered, and the question now is how
NATO is going to do that. That is a tremendous achievement for NATO,
and an achievement, moreover, in light of a very difficult debate it
had last year. And yet, NATO has moved forward. That’s a great
achievement. And, for once, on the eve of a NATO summit, I really am
looking forward to tomorrow. That is not always the case.
Thank you.
END 7:45 P.M. (Local)
SOURCE White House Press Office
CO: White House Press Office
ST: District of Columbia, Turkey
SU: EXE FOR
Web site:
06/27/2004 15:16 EDT
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress